Patriotic Wisdom

The wisdom of the Founding Fathers was, in my view, absolutely astonishing. They  foresaw many potential problems while setting up our Government and did everything they could to avoid them, and warn us about them.

In the Preamble to The Bill of Rights, which many people are no longer taught of the existence of, they gave us their reasons for the ten Amendments making up the Bill of Rights, along with a warning. Here it is in its entirety:

The Preamble to The Bill of Rights

Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Take note of the warning they give when they say “in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added:”. They were warning us that steps needed to be taken to prevent the Federal Government from overstepping its’ powers. This was the purpose of the Bill of Rights. One particular Amendment was designed to limit the power of the Federal Government, the 10th Amendment.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The 10th Amendment was intended to put the Federal Government on notice that it had no powers outside of those spelled out in the Constitution. The powers it was granted are found in Section 8 of Article 1 as follows:

Article. 1.

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

That is the sum of Federal powers, or so it was intended.

Politicians were supposed to be ordinary citizens, temporarily serving, then returning home to their original professions. In time though, they started to become professional politicians attempting to spend their entire working lives in the Government. As they did this they gained more power and started taking steps to make the Federal Government  more powerful than ever intended.

One of their favorite areas to take control comes from Article. 1. Section. 8. Clause. 3., commonly known as the Commerce Clause. The purpose of this clause was to have consistent regulation of interstate and international commerce. There is no mention of the Federal Government being granted power over intrastate commerce in the Constitution. That right, to regulate any commerce remaining within their own borders, was retained by the individual states.

Empowered by a Federal Judiciary following the concept of a “living Constitution”, the Federal Government began overstepping the restrictions of our Constitution. The concept of a living Constitution requires a re-evaluation of how laws should be interpreted in light of modern need, rather than the original intent of that law. This is how they justify the idea of judicial activism.

One of the favorite rulings cited to usurp control from the States is an abomination from the era of FDR known as Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942). They ruled that, since a farmer grew some wheat for sale and some for his families use, interstate commerce could somehow be affected by the wheat for his family, therefore, Federal regulations on that personal wheat were Constitutional. Talk about activist courts rewriting the meaning of our Constitution!

A recent example of how Congress continues to use this concept to trample States rights is found within H.R.45, known as “Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009“. This piece of trash is currently in the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Here are a couple of excerpts from section 2:

(3) to the extent that firearms trafficking is intrastate in nature, it arises out of and is substantially connected with a commercial transaction, which, when viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce;

(4) because the intrastate and interstate trafficking of firearms are so commingled, full regulation of interstate commerce requires the incidental regulation of intrastate commerce;

What utter nonsense! Following the logic that a commercial transaction, “when viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects interstate commerce”, it would justify the Federal Governments’ regulating any and all commercial transactions. If you had a small farm and grew tomatoes, from your own seeds, to sell at a local farmers market, even if those tomatoes never left the state they would be subject to interstate commerce laws. What happened to each State regulating their own commerce? Professional Politicians and activist Judges happened, and our Constitutional rights suffer as a result.

Some States, such as Alaska, Georgia, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and others, have finally started to fight back with laws designed to challenge the overstepping of the Federal Government. If the Federal Courts don’t restore States rights, I expect more aggressive measures will ensue. The people are getting tired of being trampled under the feet of greedy, power hungry politicians, aided by activist Judges with their own agenda.

This may get very ugly.